Pokémon: Double Trouble
by jai-kun
Summary: A new adventure in the world of Pokémon, involving a trainer, his partner, and... their pokémon? What in the world! There's only one trainer per game... isn't there?


A/N #1: You might have seen this, briefly, but this is a BETTER version. Promise. O.o

* * *

A lad sat in the back of a moving truck, surrounded by boxes that shifted alarmingly around him on turns and sudden brakings. A dim dome light at the front of the truck cast long shadows between the boxes, doing little to dispel the gloom of the interior. The blonde boy, however, didn't seem to mind, fingering a small black and tan ball that currently rested in is palm. "Just get my pokémon license," the boy moaned, "and we have to move so Mom can take over a pokécenter." He sighed, leaning aback against a box labeled "Jaima's things" and closing his eyes. "Videl, I know you hate your pokéball, but I guarantee you're less cramped in there than I am in here."

He took off his glasses and wiped them on his shirt tail, gingerly placing the ball in his lap before doing so. He'd given up the idea of letting the pokémon loose. There just wasn't enough room. But he would have liked the company.

Then again, a pokémon that breathed fire probably wasn't much fun in the back of a hot moving truck.

The boy sat back and closed his eyes, praying for sleep. After a few moments, he gave up.

"This sucks."

"I said, this sucks!" The girl stormed out of the house, scowling, her fists clenched tight against her sides. "I had _friends_ in Hoenn! But does anyone care about that?! No!! Why _would_ they? They didn't when we left Kanto, why start now?!

Her mother came after her, calm in the face of her daughter's torrent. "I know it's hard, Kimiko, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up. Professor Rowan is the leader in pokémon evolution research. It's a big opportunity for me."

"So what?!" The girl turned to face her mother, who still remained calm. She pushed her dark red hair back off of her bangs, away from her eyes. "It's not fair! Who knows if Jiro can even live around here?"

Kimiko's mother smiled fondly at her daughter. "I'm sure he'll be fine."

Kimiko sagged, finally, pulling out the pink pokéball from her pouch and muttering, "If he gets sick, I'll never forgive you."

Her mother smiled, touching her daughter's shoulder. "If he gets sick, I'll take care of him myself."

Both turned as the sound of a truck pulling into the driveway of the home next to their new house caught their attention. A woman hopped out of the cab and scurried to the back, quickly opening it. "We're here!"

Two little girls came from the passenger side as a boy jumped out of the back, stretching and fanning himself.

"Oh, look, Kimiko! A little friend!"

Kimiko looked over her shoulder at her mother. "I'm six_teen_ mother. I don't need 'a little friend'." She sniffed. Trying her best to look indifferent, she turned to watch the little family begin to load things into their new home. Despite her best efforts, her eyes focused on the boy.

He was pulling his fingers through his sweaty (_gross_) locks, squeezing out the braid, when she decided maybe she should go introduce herself.

"No offense, mom, but next time I'll catch a plane or something," he was saying when she was within range. His mother, a petite woman, smiled up at him.

"It was nice of you to let Mariko and Natsume ride up front. Was it too stuffy? Did you get jostled?"

"Nah," he said, wiping small framed glasses on his green shirt. "I slept a bit. It was just hot."

"Well, why don't you rest. The girls and I can handle the small things, and a pokémon moving company will arrive any moment." His mother spotted Kimiko. "Oh! Hello!"

The boy turned around, blinked, and swallowed. It made Kimiko a little uncomfortable. It made her more uncomfortable when she realized he wasn't going to talk any time soon. "Um. Hi! I'm from next door. We just moved here, too."

The boy shook his head and smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. "Hi. Jaima." He stuck out his hand, which Kimiko took and shook firmly.

"Kimiko. Pleased to meet you."

"So is he," giggled one of the twin girls who had just run out of the house, dodging the newly arrived moving pokémon and nudging her brother from behind. "Who's the girl?"

"Look, he's _blushing_," giggled the second, who had been so close behind her sister that Kimiko didn't notice her. The girls were identical except for their hair. The giggling one had light blue hair, while the other had green.

"All right, you too, go help Mom unpack."

"WHAT?!" Both girls rounded on their brother. "And why aren't you helping?!"

Whereas Kimiko would have expected a big fight, Jaima smiled calmly. "Because I had to ride in the back of the big stuffy truck while you sat in the air conditioned cab with mom."

The green haired one stamped her foot. "I _told_ you to get an ice pokémon, but nooooo!" She turned and, with her sister, stalked toward the house, both of them grumbling and whispering the whole way.

"You have a pokéball." Kimiko grinned as Jaima turned, blinking in surprise. She pulled her own pokéball off of her belt and twirled it, raising her brows. "Care for a little battle?"

"Oh, um..." Jaima swallowed. "I really... um... My pokémon's still pretty new. I'd just got her before we had to move."

Kimiko shrugged. "Then we're even. I haven't fought with mine, either." She grinned at Jaima's discomfort. "Come on, what's the matter, scared?"

Jaime sighed, pulling a black pokéball with a tan stripe around the middle off of his belt. "Fine." He clicked the button in the middle and tossed the ball to the side, where it popped open, releasing a little black and tan pokémon with ridged bonelike structures on it's back and head.

Kimiko gasped. "You're from Johto!" She began to smile. "I've heard of those, but I've never seen one. That's a houndoom, right?"

"Nah, she's a houndour. She'll evolve one day into a houndoom, but for now she's just a pup." He smiled, proudly, as the little pokémon stared between them. It snuffed once and sat, glaring at the two. Jaima leaned to whisper comspiritorally in Kimiko's ear. "She hates the pokéball…" Kimiko giggled.

"I heard they were difficult to tame! And _that's _your starter?" She was, in a word, impressed.

Jaima looked a little uncomfortable again. "Well... it's a long story. I'll tell you later."

Shrugging, Kimiko popped open her ball, revealing an bright yellow fox-like creature with six fluffy orange tails. It was Jaima's turn to react.

"Is that..." He leaned over for a closer look. "It _is_! That's a vulpix! What an interesting color," he said in awe. "How did you get it?"

Kimiko grinned. "I'll tell you later," she said with a wink, then walked a few paces away. "Ready?"

Jaima nodded, swallowing nervously. "When you are."

They paused, thinking deep, then, almost as one, pointed and cried out, "Ember!"

Both pokémon spit out a ball of fire that hit the other head on. There was a flash from each, and the flames seemed to be absorbed.

"Interesting." Jaima smirked, then called out, "Bite!"

Kimiko countered with her own cry of "Quick Attack!"

The two pokémon rushed at each other, the vulpix crossing the distance faster and ramming into the houndour. The houndour spun, quickly, and bit the flank of the passing vulpix.

"Videl, smog now!"

"Jiro, Confuse ray!"

The two pokémon turned and faced each other. The houndour opened its mouth, emitting a noxious cloud, while the vulpix twitched it's fourth tail at the vulpix, hitting it with a purple ball of energy. When the smog cleared, the vulpix was coughing violently as the houndour stumbled and staggered, bumping into the wall of the house.

"Videl, return!" The mechanism in the ball opened on the voice command, and a bolt of energy struck the houndour just before it set fire to the house. A similar effect had engulfed the vulpix which returned to it's ball as well. The color on her ball, however, was muted, an indicator that the pokémon inside was suffering from an ailment.

Kimiko looked panicked, and instead of turning to talk to Jaima, she scowled and turned toward the house, holding the ball gingerly and stepping carefully. "Mom can fix it. Mom can fix it," She repeated, her voice trembling with each step she took.

"Hey," Jaima said, catching up to her. "What's wrong."

"Guess!" She exploded, stopping and rounding on the boy. "Poison is a perpetual ailment! And do I look like I have any potions?! Who knows what kind of weird Johto disease your little beast was carrying?!"

She was close to tears, and knew it, and it only made her angrier, but she stopped to wipe her eyes anyway. Jaima had paled, and he was obviously making an effort to keep himself calm. "I can help," he gulped, reaching into the pocket of his jeans.

"You've done enough," she snarled, turning again to leave. She got five steps before a hand pulled her around. Her eyes widened in shock, but whatever she expected, it wasn't for a antidote ampoule to be fitted into the applicator socket of her pokéball and pressed, returning it to its proper color, an indication that the poison had been cured.

Kimiko swallowed, breathing a sigh of relief. She raised her eyes to thank the boy, but he had already begun stalking away, his shoulders hunched in anger.

"Wait!" Jaima either didn't hear her or didn't want to, because he went into the house and up the stairs. Kimiko sighed and began berating herself. Walking slowly back to her new house, she began to think she was going to hate it in Sinnoh.

"I hate it here."

Jaima's mother sat on the edge of his bed, looking with a mix of sympathy and patience at her son, who's eyes were covered with his arm in a nearly melodramatic fashion. It had been obvious that something had made him mad. He'd barely managed to get through unpacking and eating without snapping at his sisters, who were still giggling about the "pretty girl" who'd introduced herself. He'd excused himself from dinner early, promising to get the dishes as soon as he could.

The girl _was _pretty. Dark red hair and green eyes contrasted each other very well. In a way, the woman was relieved. She'd begun to wonder if her son would ever recover from a bad breakup before he'd thrown himself into working for Professor Elm. With the way he'd stared at the girl before he'd introduced himself, there was interest he hadn't shown in some time.

"Is this about the neighbor girl?" She was rewarded with her son uncovering his eye and fairly glaring at her. A trained nurse, even if was only to pokémon, it didn't take her long to notice the hint of embarrassment in the glare, too. She raised a brow.

"No," he said, firmly, then covered his eye. "Yes," he said, just as quickly. With a sigh, he finally uncovered his face. "I don't know, mom. I mean… I haven't felt… I just _met_…" he swallowed. "I messed up."

"What do you mean?"

He sat up and put his arms across his knees, which he had brought up near his chin. "She challenged me. I haven't battled before, so I didn't think it was serious… but then I poisoned her vulpix. She got mad, but I had an Antidote on me that I'd found when we did the last sweep of the house. But she was totally…" he sighed. "She was mad. I mean, completely off the deep end. And she wouldn't let me help, which got me mad, too. So… we stayed mad." He didn't look up. "I managed to get the antidote to the vulpix, but I just stormed into the house." He sighed. "She was pretty, too.

Before his mother could speak, a voice called up from down stairs. "Jaima!" Mariko yelled. "Someone's downstairs to visit!"

"I can send them away if you want," yelled Natsume, giggling.

He looked up at his mother, sighed, and sat up. She stopped him from standing with a hand on his shoulder. "Are you OK?"

"Yeah, mom, I'm OK. I just... kinda miss Johto right now."

"I know it's hard, kiddo," she said, smiling sadly. "But this is a big opportunity for me. I get to run a PokéCenter. I'm the first Nurse Joy that isn't _actually _named Joy!"

Jaima smirked. "Nurse Joyce isn't that much of a difference, Mom." He sighed, then smiled. "I know, I know, really, I'm fine with it. And the girls are handling it better than I thought. I'll be fine, mom, really."

"You're a good boy, Jaima. Thank you." She hugged him. "So, are you going to go down there, or are you going to let the girls scare your guest away?"

Jaima tensed, pulling away. "I better go," He said wryly, rolling his eyes when she grinned.

He was halfway down the stairs when he recognized her. She was wearing the same red button-up blouse from that afternoon, and talking to his sisters as if she had known them for years. She looked up and noticed him on the stairs and blushed.

"Can... um, can we talk? Privately?"

The twins chorused with "OOoooo," making Kimiko blush harder. Jaima felt his own face growing hot.

"Come on, outside." He pointed at the twins, who were giggling. "You two yahoos stay here."

"Aww!" cried Natsume.

"That's no fun!" yelled Mariko, tossing her green hair.

"Stay, or I won't take you to Professor Rowan tomorrow."

Kimiko laughed when the two girls struck identical innocent poses.

Outside, her demeanor changed. She looked down and scuffed her toe to the ground, then sighed. "I wanted to apologize."

Jaima blushed. "It's... I mean, it's OK." He shrugged. "I'd have been upset, too."

"I overreacted," she continued, looking up at him. "It's just that Jiro is my last real reminder of Kanto, and... I'm really protective of him." She paused, scuffing her feet again. "He was a gift."

"From who," Jaima asked, remembering the pink motif of her pokéball.

She held up the ball so he could see it better. It wasn't actually pink on closer inspection, but white with pink hearts dotted around it, closely. "My daddy." Her voice was pained as she said it.

"What happened," he said before he could stop himself. "I mean--" Rather than being upset, Kimiko seemed relieved, as if she hadn't had someone to talk to about it for quite some time

"He, um," she said, blushing, and quickly. "He left. Mom, I mean. Just before we moved to Hoenn." She swallowed. "I mean, I know he was a jerk for leaving mom like that, but…

"You still love him."

Kimiko swallowed thickly and nodded. "I guess I'm just not good enough, if he doesn't want to talk to me at all… I got this Pokémon, and… and that was it."

Jaima was surprised, and before he could think, had already started talking. "Well, if that's true then he's blind. I mean, you're fun! You're really compassionate, you're nice to people and annoying sisters, and pretty--"

He stopped when she kissed his cheek and backed away, smiling and blushing. "Mind if I go with you when you take your sisters to see Rowan?"

Jaima couldn't speak, so he nodded mutely. She smiled again and waved. "See you then."

Then she was gone. Jaima was suddenly feeling a whole lot better about Sinnoh.

* * *

A/N 2: So, here it is, the beginning of a BEYOOTIFUL friendship. . This will be updated roughly "as I feel the need". I know, that doesn't leave a lot of confidence for you lot, but I do enjoy this story, so I should be able to work on it more often. And before the Avatar Snare fans want to kill me, I wrote the majority of this long before I even started Avatar Snare. Honest!


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